Raith Rovers' Jordan Doherty on beating Partick Thistle and 'good run of fixtures'
As part of a newly deployed four-man backline, Raith Rovers right-back Jordan Doherty is hoping last Saturday’s 2-0 home league victory over Partick Thistle can be the catalyst for a surge up the William Hill Championship table for Barry Robson’s fifth-placed side.
Irish defender Doherty, 25, told Raith TV post match at Stark’s Park: “Partick are a really good side, their league position shows that.
"But everyone in our backline was saying before the match: ‘We need a clean sheet’, because we've got players up the top end of the pitch who can do the job. So if we do our job, they'll score the goals.
"The last few weeks have been tough for us but we've got a good group of lads, good staff and everyone believes in themselves.
"I think bouncing back today was really important for us and hopefully we can kick on now in the next few games. It's just building that consistency because we're good enough to beat anyone in the league.
"But it's obviously just being consistent and doing it every week. I think hopefully today can be a good start to that because I think it was a good team performance.
"Everyone was at it and hopefully we can just build off that because we've got a really good group and I think we really need to start climbing the table.”
When asked who the key men were in Raith seeing off a Partick outfit who had elevated themselves to second place after going unbeaten in their previous ten league games, Doherty added: “To be fair, I think it was a brilliant all-around performance but for me, I think Big Hannah (Paul Hanlon) was brilliant today. I think he was a standout for me but I think across the back everyone was brilliant.
"I think we won our individual battles, which is obviously super important against a good team like that.
"I think this league is so tight. That's why we've got to be on it every week because I think anyone can beat anybody really.
"It’s still early days but I think we've got a good run of fixtures coming up now so hopefully we will start to kick on and build on that performance because I think the previous three results hadn't been good enough, especially what we expect of ourselves in there.”
The run of fixtures immediately facing Raith would seem to provide them with a decent chance of picking up a considerable points return as this Saturday’s home game against eighth-placed Greenock Morton is followed by a trip to ninth-placed Queen’s Park and a home fixture against bottom club Airdrieonians.